By Sir Hardly Anyone
Arsenal’s 25 man squad is complete – in the two senses that we have 25 men in the squad and only 16 of them are foreign grown, the rest being either home grown. We also have a few who are not included in the 25 because they will be classified as under-21 for the purposes of this season.
Which means that while as ever the media is full of the men who we are going to sign, from here on it is going to be one in and one out – unless we are going to do that awful “freezing out” process again.
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
- Mohamed Elneny
- Sead Kolasinac
- Alex Lacazette
- Bernd Leno
- Albert Sambi Lokonga
- Pablo Mari
- Gabriel Magalhaes
- Martin Odegaard
- Thomas Partey
- Nicolas Pepe
- Alex Runarsson
- Cedric Soares
- Kieran Tierney
- Willian
- Granit Xhaka
- Hector Bellerin (HG)
- Calum Chambers (HG)
- Jonathan Dinzeyi (HG)
- Rob Holding (HG)
- Ainsley Maitland-Niles (HG)
- Reiss Nelson (HG)
- Eddie Nketiah (HG)
- Aaron Ramsdale (HG)
- Ben White (HG)
Freezing players out has given Arsenal two problems.
First, Arsenal have to continue paying the wages and second, Arsenal already have a nasty reputation having done this before. That is not the sort of deal players want. They know they can fall out of favour, but simply being left without any football to play is not their idea of how it is supposed to be. Fall out of favour and leave at the next transfer window is the rule – and Arsenal decided to break that rule.
However Lucas Torreira (who is not in the 25) has seemingly resolved his position by going to Fiorentina confirming on a season-long loan deal. And this despite stories saying that he was desperate to go to Boca Juniors because his mother had died. (Sorry I am not going to try and resolve that one – the two clubs are 7000 miles apart).
So ideally, in these last few days of the window it should be not just one in and one out, but also one foreign grown in one out, and one home grown in, anyone out.
One of the top names being touted around is still Houssem Aouar of Lyon who plays midfield. Top of the leaving list to accommodate him is Willian (“according to reports”). On the downside the reason for finally agreeing to the sale is “his poor attitude”. Although it might have been “his poor altitude” as he is only 5 feet 9 inches which is considered a little on the low side.
However the player is earning far more in England than he would in Brazil, and so Arsenal if Arsenal were to loan him to a team in Brazil they would have to continue paying most of his current salary – not least because of the poor financial position of clubs in Brazil.
Other players who are being talked up as on the way out are Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Sead Kolasinac, with it being said that both were in the team against West B., in order to show to the potential buyers that they are fit enough to play.
Meanwhile the attempts to undermine Mikel Arteta go on day by day, as with the Independent’s long piece ‘He thinks he knows it all’: Mikel Arteta under pressure at Arsenal as mood inside club shifts. It is a typical piece of ignoring the evidence that does not fit. And there is the hint that the whole thing is a fantasy as they quote “the mood in the boardroom”. An online newspaper having access to the boardroom? I doubt it.
Mind you I did love “The Arsenal board has been instructed to give Mikel Arteta more time by former Manchester United captain Roy Keane.” Roy Keane “instructing” the Arsenal board – that by itself is enough to lighten the mood.
Kieran Trippier is being mentioned as a possible incomer, but that again would require the removal of a foreign grown player such as Sead Kolasinac.
So quite a few players already moving on, and the need to move more if we are going to buy in some more – unless we damage our reputation even further. Here’s the list of those going:
- David Luiz: Defender — Free agent: released
- Mark McGuinness: — to Cardiff: undisclosed fee
- Trae Coyle: Winger — to Lausanne: undisclosed fee
- Zech Medley: Defender — to KV Oostende: undisclosed fee
- Konstantinos Mavropanos: Defender — to Stuttgart: loan
- Daniel Ballard: Defender — to Millwall: loan
- Ben Sheaf: Midfielder — to Coventry: undisclosed fee
- Daniel Oyegoke: Defender — to Brentford: undisclosed fee
- Matt Smith: Midfielder — to Doncaster Rovers: loan
- Mattéo Guendouzi: Midfielder — to Marseille: loan
- William Saliba: Defender — to Marseille: loan
- Nikolaj Möller: Forward — to Viktoria Cologne: loan
- Tyreece John-Jules: Forward — to Blackpool: loan
- Harry Clarke: Defender — to Ross County: loan
- Tolaji Bola: Defender — to Rotherham: undisclosed fee
- Jordi Osei-Tutu: Defender — to Nottingham Forest: loan
- Joe Willock: Midfielder — to Newcastle United: £22m
- Lucas Torreira: Midfielder — to Fiorentina: loan
Today’s featured video: An extraordinary Vieira goal, and seven others on this day!
Sir Hardly,
You omitted Smith Rowe from the 25 or I missed the listing. If he’s in the 25 (of course he is) another player must not be. Minor editing thing I suppose.
Re Smith Rowe, I don’t understand AFC signing him long term, giving him the No. 10 shirt and calling him the future, from the academy, etc. only to turn around and sign Odegaard. A decent player but Smith Rowe is more direct and his understanding with Saka, Tierney and Pepe is great. With Saka the understanding seems telepathic at times. When Arteta played Odegaard and Smith Rowe together, Smith Rowe became less of a factor and the side less fluid. I commented about this in a post last season and don’t think things will change. It might be dated thinking but shouldn’t an attack be run through a No. 10? One No. 10? Moves like this mystify me. How much did Ben White cost? Fifty million? For potential. Really could do with a useful centre back until Gabriel gets back.
Ironically, while I’m typing this a video is playing of Arteta on Smith Rowe. His words seem hypocritical now.
azeez too is rumoured to be going, out to portsmouth on loan; there he’ll be under the guidance of the cowley bros who’re said to have done a great job with ESR, so that’s great news
hope miguel’ll play against you-know-who(s) at 12.00 today (live on arsenal twitch channel) though; after he’s gone we’ll probably see more of cottrell (who didn’t play against palace, and who looks like he’s having a hard time recovering from injury), and/or henry-francis, the very lively/talented (makes me think of richardson a lot), more defense-minded midfielder, who impressed at the end of the last u18 season
as for odegaard, @goonersince72, when the loan took place in january, i used to agree with you, but i’ve changed my mind since
i think our viking and ESR can play together, only with emil sliding to the left – where he’s usually very effective, especially with his cruijffesque stop-start trick
i’ve come to think that martin helps us make up for the lack of skill/technique we have in midfield against teams like chelsea/’pool/city, when we have players like partey-lokonga (who have other qualities of course, especially sambi) against the likes of jorginho-kanté-kovacic-mount-havertz, or gündogan-debruyne-bsilva-foden)
provided everyone’s fit, my favoured line-up would be
leno
holding-white-xhaka
chambers-odegaard-smithrowe-tierney
saka-laca-auba
… wishful thinking, isn’t it?
LE GALL
I hope you’re right. Waiting on Gabriel, Partey, et al to return. Might change your lineup. Also, Pepe has been lively lately. When you compare other midfield lineups such as Chelsea and Citi it reminds me that the one player we’ve never really replaced is Santi Cazorla. He was the link from defense to creative midfield play to the forwards. Could dribble through a side of 10 centipedes with either foot and make the inch perfect pass. I do like that both Smith Rowe and Odegaard don’t mind will track back to receive a pass. Both class.